Conference calls allow participants at different locations to participate in a telephone call and may involve the sharing of data using audio, video, and/or web applications and resources (including e.g., data, presentation, and screen sharing). Conference calls may also include live images of the participants at one or more locations that can be viewed by other participants. A conference call may be referred to generally as a teleconference or videoconference. Scheduling conference calls, joining conference calls, participating in conference calls, and the like, can be broadly referred to as conferencing.
Conferencing has become especially important for businesses as it enables them to reduce travel costs by allowing workers from different locations to participate in joint meetings. This allows workers at different locations to work on the same project more efficiently. Eliminating the time required for travel can increase the speed of business. A typical business conference call may include an audio or video call that is coordinated with sharing of a presentation or document via the Internet or another computer network. The audio portion of the call may be carried over a conventional public switched telephone network (PSTN) and/or through the use of a voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) service. Other resources, such as video and web, are typically provided via a computer network such as the Internet. In most systems, the management of these resources is performed by a conference bridge. A conference bridge is a machine that links conference participants and enables the sharing of resources between them. The conference bridge may also provide conferencing services such as recording and reporting functions. Multiple conference bridges may be linked to extend the size of a conference and/or to provide different types of services.
Although there are many different types of conferencing systems and many different ways to join or participate in a conference call, a typical scheduled teleconference includes assignment of a conference ID and one or more access codes by a conference bridge. The conference ID is used by the conference bridge to identify the teleconference. The access codes are used in a manner analogous to passwords. Different access codes may be used to control different access levels or privileges or to identify conference participants. The conference ID and one or more access codes are typically provided to each invitee of a conference call. At the scheduled time, each participant may call-in to the conference bridge and provide the conference ID and access code. The conference bridge verifies the information and then connects the participant to the identified conference call.
A teleconference may be scheduled to use specific resources such as a conference room. A conference room may be a shared resource that includes conferencing equipment such as a conference phone, a computer, a camera for capturing video, a display, an interactive whiteboard, and/or other devices. The display may be used to view other participants and/or to view shared data, documents, or presentations. Attendees participating in a teleconference from a conference room typically have to identify the teleconference and provide authorization (e.g., a passcode) to initiate and access the teleconference.
If not in a conference room, a participant may participate in a teleconference using a personal communication device such as a cell phone or computer. The computer may be a laptop that can be used remotely or a computer that is part of a personal workstation. In any case, a camera and/or a display may be included (either integrated as part of the communication device or separate from the communication device). In these scenarios, the participant may be identified and authorized based on login information provided during startup of the communication device or login information provided to unlock the communication device. A calendaring application running on the communication device, or an application or service that has access to calendaring information, may be used to identify a scheduled teleconference.
Rather than using access codes, some conferencing systems use hardware such as proximity sensors to determine that a presenter or another authorized user is in a conference room. The hardware identifies the presenter or authorized user so that they can be joined to the teleconference without requiring entry of a separate access code. Also, once the presenter or authorized user has been identified, some systems can match the presenter or authorized user to a particular teleconference so that a conference ID does not have to be entered.
Because of the increasing importance of conferencing, improved methods and systems are continuously desired to improve conferencing services and enhance the user experience.